


Strength and the Strong

by EsotericOctopus



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Possibly AU, Unbeta'd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-20
Updated: 2014-06-20
Packaged: 2018-02-05 10:17:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 510
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1814989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EsotericOctopus/pseuds/EsotericOctopus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>His mind replays it over and over.  He points the gun at the woman.  The woman knocks it away.  She points her gun at him.  He can't move, he's going to die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strength and the Strong

**Author's Note:**

> Based on my belief that Armin shoots the woman at the end of chapter 58.

“Does it hurt?”

Jean looks up briefly before turning back to the floor. He shakes his head.

“I'm fine,” he mutters. Sasha makes no further comment.

After Sasha finishes up, she pats him on the shoulder and walks away. She wants to talk. Not to him, per say, just to anybody. She'll probably find Connie and deal with it with him.

Jean sits for a while longer. His mind replays it over and over. He points the gun at the woman. The woman knocks it away. She points her gun at him. He can't move, he's going to die. And then...

He really thought the shot was for him; that it was his blood everywhere. Foolish, he knows, but it isn't until the woman falls on top of him that he realizes it's hers.

Armin comes into view, gun in hand, and look of horror on his face.

Jean rubs his eyes in a vain attempt to rub the image away.

He looks up, trying to find something to distract himself with. Armin is sitting quietly in the corner on some boxes. He's not looking at anyone, studying the floor like Jean was moments ago.

Jean is getting up before he even realizes it. His feet lead him over to Armin and when he arrives he realizes he has no idea what to say.

Well, he knows what he wants to say, he just doesn't know how.

Armin still isn't looking at him.

Jean tries to speak his name, but all that comes out is a weak noise. Pathetic, just like him.

Armin jerks a little and raises his head. For a moment, they just stare at each other. Then, Armin gives a full-body shudder, his face cracking from its blank facade.

Jean cracks too, at the sight of it. The other boy has been so stoic since the shooting, Jean had thought that maybe... Jean doesn't know what he thought. Levi and Mikasa, the two had seemed so... _accepting_ of the death. It's scary. He knows this is just how things are: kill or be killed. It doesn't make it any easier, though. Goddamn it, he didn't sign up for this shit.

And Armin, sweet-looking and frail, who sometimes says... _things_ like they're no big deal. Jean really doesn't know the depths of the other boy's mind. But looking at him here and now, he really can't believe that Armin is as callous as all that.

Armin lets out a warbling noise and Jean has his arms around him, clutching at him like a lifeline. Armin's hands grab at Jean's blood-stained shirt and he lets out a moan.

Jean is weak. As weak as he was when Marco died. All bluster and no substance.

“Thank you, _thank you_ ,” he murmurs into Armin's head.

_Thank you for saving me. Thank you for throwing away the last of your innocence for me._

Jean is rocking them, he realized. He buries his face further into Armin's hair. It smells of sweat and blood. It's unnerving, but he keeps his face there anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> I am working on a silly little fic called "Attack on the Sanctity of Marriage" but I read chapter 58 and thought of this. I swear, it looks like Armin is reaching into his cloak. (Also, I don't think Mikasa and Levi are that callous, but Jean clearly has a lot of reservations.)
> 
> Not totally happy with some things so I may edit a bit later.


End file.
